9/8/09

CPSC 421
Database Management Systems
Lecture 3: 
Relational Algebra, More SQL,
Repeat

* Some material adapted from R. Ramakrishnan, L. Delcambre, and B. Ludaescher

Todays Agenda
Quiz
Finish up MySQL
More on SQL queries
Relational Algebra

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Why are mathematical definitions useful?

Can you think of examples when a mathematical
definition improved a practical problem?

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Query Languages for Relational DBs

SQL

Rela)onalAlgebra

Prac1caldeni1onof
rela1onaldatabase

Mathema1caldeni1on
ofrela1onaldatabase

Operatesontables
(withduplicatesbags)

Operatesonrela1ons
(i.e.,sets)

Variouskeywords,
statements

Setbasedopera1ons

SELECT,FROM,WHERE,

Intersec1on,Union,

crossfer1liza1on
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Commercial DBMSs Sets or Bags?

The default is to produce a bag (or multiset) of rows
as a query answer
If you want a set, use DISTINCT
Why do you think they do this?
Note that even though relational algebra was
originally defined as set-based, SQL queries are
represented internally using relational algebra (w/
extra operators)
There are also versions of relational algebra defined
using bag semantics
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The Plan
Present mathematical definition of a relational
database (relational algebra)
Intermix relational algebra and SQL
Well use relational algebra again when we talk about
evaluating and optimizing queries

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Mathematically Describing a Relational DB

A relation is a set of tuples
See the original definition of the model optional reading
(Codd 1970)

Define query operators as set-theoretic functions

Together these form the relational algebra

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Cross Products
Let A = {a, b, c} and B = {1, 2}
In set theory, the cross product is defined as
A X B = {(a, 1), (b, 1), (c, 1), (a, 2), (b, 2), (c, 2)}
A X B is a set consisting of ordered pairs (2-tuples)
where each pair consists of an element from A and
an element from B

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Practice Question
Suppose A = {a, b, c} and B = {1, 2}
What is B X B?
B X B = {(1, 1), (2, 1), (1, 2), (2, 2)}

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Defining Relations
Suppose we have the relation
Person(name, salary, num, status) with domains
NameValues = {all possible strings of 30 characters}
SalValues = {real numbers between 0 and 100,000}
StatusValues = {f, p}
NumValues = {integers between 0 and 9999}

Any instance of the relation is always a subset () of

NameValues X SalValues X NumValues X StatusValues
* Note that a domain is a set of simple, atomic values
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Defining Relations
Each relation instance is a subset of the cross
product of its domains (see the Codd paper)
One element of a relation is called a tuple
If n domains, then n-tuples

A relation is always a set by definition

Recall: If you add the element 2 to the set {1, 2, 3, 4}, then
you still have the set {1, 2, 3, 4}
If you add the tuple {101, J. Smith, 1000, checking} to
the account relation instance you dont change the result

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Set Theory Refresher

Consider two sets
S1 = {1, 3, 5, 7}
S2 = {1, 2, 3, 4}

What do these return?

S1 S2
S1 S2
S1 S2
S1 X S2

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Relational Algebra has Additional Operations

Consider two sets
S1 = {1, 3, 5, 7}
S2 = {1, 2, 3, 4}

We will talk about these a bit later

S1 condition S2
S1 S2
condition(S1)
attribute-list(S1)
renaming-specificaton(S1)

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Relational Algebra as a Query Language

We dont normally use relational algebra directly
Products dont allow you to write relational algebra
queries

But, it is used internally in a DBMS to represent a

query plan
It is also often used in theoretical work on databases
(although fragments of first order logic are frequently used
as well )

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Relational Algebra Queries w/out Operators

What does the following SQL query return?
SELECT *
FROM Student;
Answer: Student 
(i.e., this query is the identity function)
A relation name by itself is a valid relational algebra
query
Listing the relation name just returns the tuples in
the relation
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Relational Algebra: Selection operator ()

Account
Number
101
102
103
104
105

Owner
J.Smith
W.Wei
J.Smith
M.Jones
H.Mar1n

Balance
1000.00
2000.00
5000.00
1000.00
10000.00

Type
checking
checking
savings
checking
checking

The relational algebra query: 

Balance<3000(Account)
is similar to the SQL query:
SELECT *
FROM Account
WHERE Balance < 3000;
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Relational Algebra: Selection operator ()

Select () is a unary operator:

:RR
i.e., it is always applied to a single relation

Balance<3000(Account)
rela1onorrela1onal
algebraexpression

selectoperator

thepredicate(condi1on)
A,ributeCompartor(,>,=,,,<)A,ribute|Constant
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Examples
Balance < 3000(Account)
Number = 103(Account)
Balance = Number(Account)
Type = checking(Balance < 3000(Account))
Account
Number
101
102
103
104
105

Owner
J.Smith
W.Wei
J.Smith
M.Jones
H.Mar1n

Balance
1000.00
2000.00
5000.00
1000.00
10000.00

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Type
checking
checking
savings
checking
checking
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Relational Algebra: Projection operator ()

Account
Number
101
102
103
104
105

Owner
J.Smith
W.Wei
J.Smith
M.Jones
H.Mar1n

Balance
1000.00
2000.00
5000.00
1000.00
10000.00

Type
checking
checking
savings
checking
checking

The relational algebra query: 

Number,Owner(Account)
is similar to the SQL query:
SELECT Number, Owner 
FROM Account;
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Relational Algebra: Projection operator ()

Project () is also a unary operator:

:RR
i.e., it is always applied to a single relation

Number,Owner(Account)
rela1onorrela1onal
algebraexpression

projectoperator
listofalributestokeep
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Example
Owner(Account)
Account
Number
101
102
103
104
105

Owner
J.Smith
W.Wei
M.Jones
H.Mar1n

SELECTOwner
FROMAccount;

vs.
Owner
J.Smith
W.Wei
J.Smith
M.Jones
H.Mar1n

Balance
1000.00
2000.00
5000.00
1000.00
10000.00

Type
checking
checking
savings
checking
checking

Rela1onsarealwayssets
Sothequeryanswerisa
setofnames
andJ.Smithappearsjust
onceintheanswer

Owner
J.Smith
W.Wei
J.Smith
M.Jones
H.Mar1n

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Combining Select and Project

Owner(Balance < 3000(Account))
Balance < 3000(Owner,Balance(Account))
Owner(Balance < 3000(Owner,Balance(Account)))
Type = checking(Balance < 3000(Owner,Balance(Account)))
Do you seen any problems
with these queries?
Are any of these equivalent?
Equivalence implies for 
any DB instance

Account
Number
101
102
103
104
105

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Owner
J.Smith
W.Wei
J.Smith
M.Jones
H.Mar1n

Balance
1000.00
2000.00
5000.00
1000.00
10000.00

Type
checking
checking
savings
checking
checking
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Relational Algebra Cross Products

Given A = {a, b, c}, B = {1, 2}, and C = {x, y}, the cross
product (A X B) X C in set theory is
{((a, 1), x), ((b, 1), x), (c, 1), x), , ((c, 2), y)}
Codd simplified cross products in relational algebra
by eliminating parentheses flattening the tuples
{(a, 1, x), (b, 1, x), (c, 1, x), , (c, 2, y)}

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Relational Algebra: Cross Product operator (X)

Used in the basic definition of a relation
An instance of a relation is a subset of the cross
product of its domains
Is also an operator in the relational algebra
So, we can use it in queries

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Example
Suppose we have these relations in a university DB
Teacher(tnum, tname)
Course(cnum, cname)
This is just a simple example!
If we developed an actual university schema, it would
be much more detailed than this

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Example
Teacher
tnum
101
105
110

Course
cnum tname
346
Opera1ngSystems
491
SeniorDesign

tname
Smith
Crowley
Yerion

TeacherXCourse
The cross product
produces every
possible combination
of teacher and course

tnum
101
105
110
101
105
110

tname
Smith
Crowley
Yerion
Smith
Crowley
Yerion

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cnum
346
346
346
491
491
491

tname
Opera1ngSystems
Opera1ngSystems
Opera1ngSystems
SeniorDesign
SeniorDesign
SeniorDesign

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Relational Algebra: Join operator ()

Account
Number

Owner Balance Type

Deposit
Account

Transac1onId Date Amount

The relational algebra query 

Account Number=Account Deposit

is equivalent to

Number = Account(Account X Deposit)



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Relational Algebra: Join operator ()

Join () is a binary operator:

:RRR
i.e., it is always applied to a two relations and returns one

AccountNumber=AccountDeposit
rela1onorrela1onal
algebraexpression

rela1onorrela1onal
algebraexpression

thejoinpredicate(condi1on)
A,ributeCompartor(,>,=,,,<)A,ribute
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Relational Algebra: Join operator ()

The join operator is defined for convenience

R1 a1 = a2 R2 a1 = a2(R1 R2)
Thus, we dont really need the join operator
Any query with a join can always be rewritten into cross
product followed by selection
And vice-versa it is also possible to define crossproduct based on join

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A Few Details about Join

Each simple Boolean predicate in the join condition
must compare an attribute from one relation to an
attribute in the other relation
In the query
Account

Number = Account type = checking Deposit

type=checking is not a join condition

If you have a join with NO condition, then it is just a

cross product
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Examples
Student advisor=number Faculty
Student S S.age < F.age Faculty F
Student S S.salary F.age Faculty F
Join is sometimes called theta-join or -join
where represents any of the 6 comparators
The most common join is called a equi-join (for
equality condition)

R1 a1=a2 R2
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Challenge Question
How can you in general convert a basic SQL statement
(SELECT-FROM-WHERE) to an equivalent relational
algebra expression
SELECT DISTINCT attributes
FROM T1, T2, 
WHERE conditions

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Basic SQL = SPJ (except tables vs. relations)

A basic SQL query of the form
SELECT DISTINCT attributes
FROM T1, T2, 
WHERE conditions
is the same as
attributes(conditions (T1 X T2 X ))
SELECT-FROM-WHERE queries are sometimes described
as equivalent to the Select-Project-Join (SPJ) subset of
relational algebra
Confusingly, SQL SELECT == RA Project (not RA Select!)
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